Ford's baby 4x4 will be here in 2008

Meet the Kuga, Ford's new baby 4x4, which will join the Blue Oval's range in spring 2008.The Kuga will be revealed in the metal at the Frankfurt motor show in September, but for the moment this is the only image we've got to go on. The new car is the production version of the Iosis X concept car shown at Paris in 2006.It will be based on a four-wheel drive version of the Focus C-Max platform, so expect it to be similar in basic dimensions to Ford's small MPV.Ford says the Kuga will be capable of tackling the rough stuff, but we reckon it is more likely to excel on the road; expect the same sort of sharp handling that sets the Focus above its competitors."Kuga will stand out from the crowd by offering the visual excitement of 'kinetic design' and the on-road driving quality that customers of cars like the Ford Focus, the S-MAX and the new Mondeo have come to expect from us," said Martin Smith, Ford of Europe design boss. Let's just hope no one confuses this Kuga with its homonym, the Mondeo-based Ford Cougar coupe of the 1990s.